


I Hope You're Free Thursday Night

by snnycarisi



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Alternate Universe- Married, Domestic Fluff, Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr. Cooks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Married Life, Meeting the Parents, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, but he's a suck up and craves validation, lucia hates sonny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-06-09 21:02:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19483975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snnycarisi/pseuds/snnycarisi
Summary: If there was one thing Sonny had been uncertain about in their relationship, it had been Lucia. She made had never made any attempt to hide how much she disliked Sonny and no matter how hard Sonny sucked up to her, the woman didn’t budge.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I haven't put out any light-hearted barisi fluff in so long so I found this thing I'd forgotten about but I've had in my drafts for months- now I'm back to my roots!

Sonny looked up from his seemingly never ending pile of paperwork as he heard the familiar sound of his husband’s shoes smacking against the linoleum floor of the precinct. The shoes, a sturdy leather, were more expensive than half of Sonny’s wardrobe. More to the point, they had a slight heel and so his presence was made clear by the click-clacking of his feet- Rafael saved these shoes exclusively for court days, which made Sonny worry. To Sonny’s knowledge, Rafael was not due in court that morning and was instead due, in twenty minutes, to have lunch with his mother and husband. 

Back straight and head held high (Sonny always envied his perfect posture), Rafael strode towards the detective, an apologetic look spread across his face. 

“Hey, sorry I didn’t catch you this morning,” Rafael rest his hand on Sonny’s shoulder and sat atop the desk the younger man was working at. That morning Sonny had been called into the precinct before dawn, hence the paperwork he was now stuck with. He smiled in response and Sonny pressed a kiss against his husband’s knuckle, just below the sparkling gold band that now resided there. After five months of marriage, Sonny still couldn’t get over the sight of a matching ring around his own finger. Rafael didn’t scowl or show any kind of annoyance at Sonny’s public display of affection- another bad sign. 

“You remember how we were meant to have lunch with my mom today?” Sonny nodded. Rafael sighed before continuing, “something’s come up and I have to be in court in…half an hour,” his voice lowered considerably as he prepared an apology, something he greatly disliked doing. “I’m sorry, I know we’ve had this planned for ages and I’ll make it up to you-”

“Make it up to me? Doll, I don’t think missing lunch with my mother-in-law is something you even need to  _ apologise  _ for,” Sonny paused. There was something else, he could see it on Rafael’s face. 

“I can’t go. But  _ you  _ can. If I completely flake on her she may just kill me, plus, as she is your mother-in-law now I think it’d be good if you two got to know each other better.” 

Sonny froze, horrified by his husband’s request. If there was one thing Sonny had been uncertain about in their relationship, it had been Lucia. She made had never made any attempt to hide how much she disliked Sonny and no matter how hard Sonny sucked up to her, the woman didn’t budge. Pretty early on in their relationship, when Rafael had introduced Sonny to his mother for the first time, Sonny had gone home in tears conflicted whether he should stay in the relationship or not. Rafael, of course, had held him close and reassured him that Lucia was just stubborn, and she would warm to him eventually. Six years later and still she hadn’t warmed to him- Sonny had accepted the fact that she never would. 

“There is absolutely no way I’m having lunch with your mom alone,” he started, almost shutting his mouth again when Rafael shot him that all too familiar scolding look. But he had to find some way to weasel out of this. “Babe, you  _ know  _ she hates me. Like,  _ really  _ hates me. I think she might eat _ me  _ if you make me go out to lunch with her alone.”

  
  


Rafael almost fell for the puppy eyes Sonny was so good at throwing at him when he wanted something. 

“I’m pretty sure you’ll live, Dominick, you only need to stay for an hour or so anyway,” Rafael reached out and took both of Sonny’s hands in his. “And she doesn’t hate you, as much as you think she does. She just doesn’t know you the way I do, she doesn’t see how brilliant you are.” 

Sonny laughed and shook his head. Anyone else would think the kindness Rafael was displaying came authentically, but Sonny knew he was just flattering him so he would give in.

“Oh she doesn’t hate me? Then why did she ask you if you were still seeing that ‘molesto gringo’?” Rafael’s expression went from exasperated to mortified- clearly he hadn’t realised Sonny understood as much Spanish as he did.

“Yeah okay, so maybe she doesn’t like you. But I’m giving you a chance to prove her wrong,” Rafael leaned in close and let go of Sonny’s hands to instead cup his cheeks. “Please, mi amor, just do this for me?” 

Sonny rolled his eyes and planted a chaste kiss to his husband’s lips. He knew he was going to cave the second Rafael started being affectionate, not that he would ever admit that. 

“Fine, I’ll go. But you owe me, okay?” Now smirking, Rafael stood up off the desk and strode back out of the precinct, most likely to prepare for whatever it was that required his attention in the courthouse. 

“Hey, the lovebirds are gettin’ it on at work! What’s the occasion ‘mi amor’?” Fin sauntered over to Sonny’s desk and clapped him playfully on the back while Sonny groaned and shoved his face into his hands. 

“He wants me to have lunch with his mother. Alone.” Sonny mumbled, and ran his hands through his now disheveled hair. “And of course I caved and said yes.”

Fin laughed loudly and sat down at his own desk, opening one of the countless case-files that had piled up there. 

“Unlucky, man. This is why I’m never getting remarried.” 

“Yeah thanks for the encouragement. Can you cover for me for an hour or so while I get insulted by an old woman for just existing?”

“Sure thing, if you’re not back in an hour do you want me to put out an amber alert? Y’know, just in case she actually does kill you?”

Sonny sighed, and put on his coat. “Please.”

\---

  
The restaurant had been chosen by Rafael; it was a quaint, almost hole-in-the-wall joint that served Vietnamese soup. This seemed like a peculiar place to take a nearing eldery woman who was set in her tastes, but for someone who could barely cook, Rafael was very particular about food and loved to try new things. Sonny knew he would probably be disappointed about his unscheduled court appointment, because he really had been looking forward to the lunch, if only for the food and not the company. And now, Sonny sat at their reserved table alone, fiddling with the menu while he waited for Lucia Barba to arrive. 

Much like her son, when Lucia walked into a room, you would have to be deaf and blind not to notice her. Bright pink scarf wrapped around her neck, the clicking of her shoes as she approached the table caused the hairs on the back of Sonny’s neck to stand up. When Lucia sat down and realised her son wasn’t there, she grimaced. 

“Where’s Rafi?”

“He had a court emergency- not sure exactly what happened but something came up at the last minute and yeah, he’s at the courthouse now.” Lucia’s lips tightened and Sonny prepared himself for the lecture to come. 

“You need to stop letting him work so hard. No time for his mother, but I bet he came and saw you before he had to run off to save lives or whatever it is he does strutting around that courtroom with his fancy suits.”

Sonny wanted to say that even if he tried to stop Rafael from working so hard- and he had done so many times in the past- it wouldn’t have made any difference; Rafael was stubborn and if he wanted to do something, he was going to do it. He wanted to say that what Rafael did in court was important and damn impressive, and any other parent would be proud to see their child as successful as he. He wanted to say that, maybe, the problem here wasn’t with himself at all, and the reason for Rafael being so quick to dismiss time with her probably came down to the fact that she could be pretty hard to be around sometimes. 

But he said none of this, and settled for an awkward shrug and particularly strained smile. Lucia rolled her eyes in response and began reading the menu, muttering under her breath at the ‘ridiculous choice of restaurant’. 

They ordered, and Lucia fell into silence. Sonny tried making small talk, but every time he opened his mouth her lips thinned and she shot daggers into his skin with her glare. He would never admit this, but a large part of Sonny just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. He was a people pleaser- he had been since he was a kid, being bullied for being the ‘teacher’s pet’- he couldn’t help it, he craved validation and needed people that were important to him to like him. Lucia was probably the most important person in Rafael’s life (at least she had been for a long time) and that made her equally important to Sonny and he just loathed the fact that his own mother-in-law hated his guts. 

For the first time in his life, Sonny knew he had to stand up for himself. After all, what was the worst that could happen when she already hated him anyway?

“Listen, Lucia. I love your son very much and I know he loves you very much, so I don’t want us to have a weird relationship. I’m trying really hard to have a connection with you and you keep insulting me when you think I can’t understand and pushing me away. I’m really trying and I’m here because Rafael wanted me to be, and I would go to the end of the Earth for him if he asked me to because I love him. I know you don’t like me, I have no idea  _ why  _ but I know you do. Unfortunately for you, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon and you’re just gonna have to get used to that.”

Then, something in Lucia shifted. The scowl that had previously contorted her face lifted, and was replaced by a smirk eerily similar to the one Sonny was so used to seeing on Rafael. 

“I knew you had a backbone somewhere in there,” she started, smugness seeping into her tone. “I’m sorry if I’ve been hard on you, I just want what’s best for Rafi, and I think you’ve finally showed me that maybe I was wrong in thinking you weren’t that.”

Lucia was seemingly finished with her speech, and went back to studying the menu. Sonny didn’t know what he had expected her to say, but an apology certainly wasn’t it. Anyway, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and let himself be happy with this newfound peace. 

\---

By the time Sonny got home that night, Rafael was already in bed with his reading glasses on and phone in hand. Sonny smiled softly at the sight of his husband.

“You didn’t have to wait up for me,” he toed off his shoes and knelt down atop the covers to press a peck to Rafael’s lips. 

Rafael smiled, and shrugged. “How’d it go with mom today?”

Beaming, Sonny undid his tie. “I hope you’re free Thursday night,”

“Dominick, I swear to God if you’ve invited her over…” Rafael’s expression turned from curious to exasperated. Leave it to Sonny to go into a meal being hated and leave with dinner plans. 

“Nah, but I’m going over to her’s to cook for her. I’m sure she’d appreciate it if you joined me.” 

“Did she really hate the restaurant  _ that  _ much?”

Sonny laughed and shot Rafael a knowing look. “You knew she would,”

“Well I’m sorry for trying to expand the horizons of her palate.” Rafael said, trying to keep a straight face, but Sonny could see the ghost of a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. 

“Anyway. She asked why she couldn’t just get a minestrone and we started talking about food, I told her all about my Nonna’s recipe and she said she’d love for me to cook it for her one day,” 

Rafael groaned, making a scene out of his displeasure towards spending time with his mother, but that smile was still just hiding behind his eyes. 

“So, what, you’re best friends with my mom now?”

“Maybe not best friends, doll, but I think she finally realised I’m actually a pretty good son-in-law,” 

Now having dressed himself in an old t-shirt and sweatpants, Sonny crawled into bed, wrapping an arm around Rafael’s shoulders, who leaned into the embrace and planted a kiss to Sonny’s shoulder. 

“I’m happy for you, Sonny, but please don’t make a regular thing of dinner with my mother? I don’t need her liking you more than she likes me,”

“I think it’s a little late for that.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the night of the dinner arrives...

On Thursday morning, Rafael awoke to an empty bed. This happened far more often than he would have liked, but with his husband’s job it was out of both of their control as to when he would be called into work. When he stumbled into the kitchen, however, he found it was not in fact empty, and instead Sonny stood hunched over a notepad on the kitchen island while the cupboards behind him had been thrown open like a crime scene. Still dressed in pyjama pants and an old t-shirt while his hair stood up all over his head, it was clear from the state of the room that he had been there for a while. 

“What happened in here?” Rafael moved to shut the cupboards, pressing a light kiss into Sonny’s shoulder as he slipped past, who startled at the sound of his husband’s voice. 

“‘M planning dinner for tonight,” when Rafael shot him a confused look, he sighed and gestured wildly, “with your mom? The one where I finally prove to her that I’m worthy of being married into her family?”

“Ah, I forgot about that.” Taking a seat next to where Sonny stood tapping his pen furiously against the island, Rafael gently ran his hands over the other man’s back and shoulders. “Sonny, trust me, if she’s invited you over then that’s most of the battle. She’s already decided she likes you- finally, it took her long enough- and standing there scratching my counters with your pen and making our house look like it’s just been raided isn’t going to make her like you more.”

Sonny just huffed in response and stormed over to the fridge, beginning to rummage through the vegetable crisper. 

“I just want it to be perfect is all,” He muttered into the fridge. 

“You could always just… make her the minestrone you promised her?” Rafael stood and moved towards the coffee machine, starting a fresh pot for the both of them. Often his favourite time of day was when they could sit together in the mornings sipping their coffee as they adjusted to being awake, not needing to talk to enjoy each other’s company; although now he suspected a quiet morning was probably off the tables. 

“I  _ could _ , but isn’t that too simple? I wanna impress her so-”

“Dominick,” he interrupted. “Just make the minestrone.” 

Sonny sighed and emerged from inside the fridge, sitting down on the stool next to Rafael and resting his chin on his husband’s shoulder. “Sorry, I’m being nutty, right?”

Rafael chuckled and dragged his fingers through Sonny’s hair. “Yep.”

“What would I do without you nagging me all the time, hmm?” 

Rafael rolled his eyes and stood up to pour the coffee, kissing his husband’s head on the way. Two mugs full, one black with two sugars and one with a splash of milk and no sugar- this was as ingrained into his mind as the alphabet. Sonny joked about needing Rafael’s nagging but really, Rafael didn’t know where he would be without Sonny. What he would do without his kindness, his tenderness, his occasional neurosis, his mug next to Rafael’s- just his presence in their home, Rafael had no idea. 

“Just one more thing, doll? I don’t want to sound like one of those people but, can we keep the conversation tonight in English please?”

Rafael laughed loudly and placed the milky coffee in front of Sonny. “Aw, feeling paranoid are we?”

“Just a little.”

Lightly grabbing Sonny’s chin, Rafael pulled him into a proper kiss. He tasted like morning breath, but Rafael wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Of course, mi amor.” He murmured into his mouth. 

\---

Sonny fidgeted the whole uber ride to Lucia’s Bronx apartment. After five minutes of him loudly drumming on his thighs, Rafael took both of his clammy hands into his own warm and steady ones, hoping it would calm Sonny down. Flashing him an apologetic smile (which he often did when he knew he was being annoying and had been called out on it), Sonny was still… for about thirty seconds. He then began tapping his feet on the carpeted floor of the car and bouncing knees, jostling their joined hands. 

Rafael understood why he was nervous, it wasn’t exactly a secret how cruel his mother had been to his partner over the past six years, and he knew Sonny thought this was his one shot at acceptance. And maybe it was, but Rafael had spent the last few years hating how his family couldn’t get along, and now that that was changing, he couldn’t help but be bursting with happiness and love for his two favourite people. 

As the car pulled up at his mother’s apartment building, Sonny hurriedly collected the grocery bags full of ingredients for their meal and his breath quickened. 

“Just breathe, okay baby?” Rafael only brought out that specific petname on special occasions, and he knew the effect it would have on his husband. Lips quirking into a tiny smile, Sonny nodded and they began ascending the endless flights of stairs that led them into the apartment. 

Lucia answered the door like she had been anticipating their arrival for hours (for all Rafael knew, she probably had been sitting there by the door, racking her brain for insults to fire at Sonny and passive aggressive jabs at her son). Upon seeing Sonny, she pulled him into her arms and planted a wet, lipstick-covered kiss on his cheek. This shocked both men. Although this was her usual greeting for her son, Sonny usually received an awkward hug at best, and a slight nod at worst. Beaming, Sonny moved towards the kitchen to relieve himself of the bags he was carrying and get to work. 

After his own kiss and a few seconds more of hugging Lucia, Rafael made sure Sonny was still in the kitchen and lowered his voice to speak to her.

“Mami, Sonny put in a lot of effort into impressing you tonight, so I need you to promise me you’re not going to put him down like you usually do.”

“‘Put him down’?” She raised her eyebrows and glared at him. “When have I ever done that?”

The first time they had met, she gave him the once over and proceeded to completely ignore him, turning her back and speaking to her son in their native language. When they announced their engagement she frowned and said, “marrying a white man? I thought I raised you better, Rafi.” At the wedding, she must have seen how happy Rafael was and gave Sonny the first hug she had given him in the three years they had known each other… and then hugged her son and said, “Te quiero mucho, Rafael, a pesar de que te casaste con este gringuito molesto.”

Instead of listing these occasions (and the many more he couldn’t immediately recall from the top of his head), Rafael sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just promise me?”

“Dios, Rafi, yes I’ll be nice to him. Although I do not appreciate taking orders from my son- I don’t care if you’re Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, I don’t want to hear it.” That tone threw Rafael back to being ten years old chastised for talking back to his mother. 

“Okay.” He muttered.

“Now, while dinner’s cooking, I need you to get off your ass and help your poor, old mother with some things.” 

By ‘some things’ she meant moving boxes and boxes of crap from the guest room into her car so she could take them to storage. Rafael had no clue what was in then and by the third heavy box, he felt the need to stop and sit on the floor of the guest room, which had once been his bedroom, and take a minute to breathe. He was embarrassingly sweaty, and unbuttoned his shirt, folding it neatly and placing it next to him on the floor, so he was left dressed in an undershirt and his jeans. 

He figured, if he was already taking a break, he might as well open one of the boxes and take a look inside. 

Clothes, all neatly folded and placed inside with so much care it was a wonder the person who packed them hadn’t been working in retail all their lives. Rafael knew the packer had not, in fact, ever worked in retail as the realisation that he recognised all of these clothes and had packed this box himself hit him. The patterns on these dresses were all too familiar and threw him right back into his childhood with memories of sobbing into them after scraped knees and squishing his face into them as he hugged the wearer tightly. These were undeniably his abuelita’s clothes. 

She had been dead for coming onto seven years now, and he almost didn’t understand why his mother had kept them for so long, cluttering her house; except he really did understand. 

Letting go of his grandmother and moving on after her death had been one of the hardest experiences of his life, and looking back, he was surprised he survived that year in between her passing and the start of his relationship with Sonny. Except he did survive, and now he was in a place where he didn’t feel lost or alone, and wasn’t spending every night praying to a God he didn’t think existed to just give him a break, just bring something  _ good  _ into his life. 

Almost as if on cue, Sonny stuck his head into the room, obviously searching the apartment for his husband. 

“Hey, soup’s cooking- want a hand with the boxes?” 

Rafael looked up at him and blinked the moisture from his eyes, forcing a smile and shaking his head. “No, it’s okay, I’m nearly done.”

Sonny wasn’t an idiot and must have put two and two together looking between Rafael and the box of older women’s clothing, and plonked himself down on the floor next to Rafael, wrapping his slim arms around him. It took everything in Rafael not to burst into tears- he was just feeling _ so much _ , and didn’t know how else to express it. 

“Let me into that big, juicy, chess-club brain of yours?” Sonny gently poked Rafael’s ribs, still pressed close to the other man. 

“I think she would have really liked you, right from the start. None of this passive aggressive bullshit you get from Mami- not that Abuelita would have any sway in the way my mother interacts with anyone. But she would have loved to have someone to cook with and boss around in the kitchen, Lord knows I’m hopeless.” His voice was strained as he fought to keep control of his emotions. 

Sonny chuckled. “Hopeless is probably not the word I would use-” he paused as Rafael glared up at him and he remembered the time his husband tried to cook a romantic dinner for them and had somehow burnt the pasta. “Fine, just a little bit hopeless. Still, I just know she’s up in Heaven looking out for you, doll. And I’m sure she’s happy you’ve found someone who can feed you in her place.”

Rafael sniffled and buried his face into Sonny’s shoulder. It was impossible to express in words just how much good Sonny had brought into his life, and how much he had done for him. He still wasn’t sure if he believed in God, but some days he really did believe Sonny was sent to him by some deity, maybe even his abuelita. 

After a few moments of the pair quietly holding each other, Sonny broke the silence. “How about you go take those last boxes out to the car, then come into the living room with your mom and I, and we can cuddle.”

“You want to cuddle? In front of my mother?”

“Yeah, fuck it, why not? We’re married, it’s not like she expects us to be Puritans or anything,” sometimes Rafael wondered how a grown man could be as hilariously ridiculous as Sonny was. 

“Puritans,” he repeated back to the detective under his breath, shaking his head. “If you put the idea of us fucking into her mind, I swear to god, Dominick, you’re walking home.” 

Sonny grinned and stood up, on his way back to the living room. “Hey, you can’t blame me for thinking with my dick when you’re lookin’ like  _ that _ ,” he gestured to Rafael’s tight fitting top and trousers.

“Oh my god, get out of here and let me do what I need to do, please.” 

\---

With the last of the boxes in the car, Rafael entered the living room wiping sweat from his brow, to find his mother and husband casually sitting across from each other chatting about life. To any other family, this would seem normal, the bare minimum of communication, but this was certainly a solid improvement from the awkwardness that usually ensued a Barba-Carisi family gathering. On the worn couch that had been there since Rafael was a child, Sonny opened his arms, beckoning him to join him. Smiling softly, he complied. 

So, for the next half hour, Rafael sat practically in Sonny’s lap while his mother sat across from them in her armchair, all telling stories from work and anything interesting that had happened recently. Feeling Sonny’s chest vibrate with laughter at Lucia’s story of suspending a kid for trying to sneak alcohol into school filled him with so much warmth he thought he might explode. This is what he’d always wanted, to finally have a somewhat functional family, and he wondered how some people were lucky enough to just have this without having to work for it. 

A timer from inside the kitchen began buzzing and Sonny lightly tapped Rafael’s thigh to make him move so he could attend to their dinner. 

“I think I can finally see why you’re so crazy about that man.” Lucia offered when Sonny had left the room. 

Rafael grinned. “Took you long enough,” when she raised her eyebrows and hardened her stare he added, “thank you, Mami.”

“I’m glad you’re so still so happy, so long into your relationship, really.” He smiled graciously and nodded in acknowledgement. “But what’s with you tonight? Se te olvidó como hablar español?"

There was always a but. 

“No, it’s just that Sonny feels excluded when he can’t understand what we’re saying.”

He could practically feel the eyeroll she gave him in response. 

“Don’t do that, like you’ve never called him names behind his back when you thought he couldn’t understand you,” Rafael really didn’t feel like having this evening turn into a fight, but he was tired of letting her get away with the way she treated Sonny up until a week ago. 

“Well, maybe he should learn then, so he knows when I’m ‘calling him names’?” 

“He  _ is _ ,” this was a bit of an exaggeration, as Sonny’s duolingo streak had long since died, but she didn’t need to know that. “But for now, mantenemos la conversación en inglés, ¿sí?”

“I’m serving up!” Sonny called from the kitchen and Rafael stood to set the dining table, avoiding the annoyed look he knew Lucia was shooting him. 

\---

“This is delicious, your Nonna’s recipe?”

Sonny beamed, resting his spoon against the side of the bowl. “Yes ma’am! Nonna was a mean cook, she taught me everything I know.”

“Hmm, Rafael’s abuelita could probably have given her a run for her money, but he was too busy studying to learn his way around the kitchen.” Lucia smirked, lightly jabbing her son in the stomach with her elbow. Rafael just rolled his eyes. 

“That’s why I have Sonny, right?” He smiled sweetly at his husband, who blew a kiss in response, his grin spreading to reveal those wonderful dimples. Rafael was sure his face had to hurt from how much he had been smiling that night, but it made him happy to see Sonny finally so comfortable in his childhood home. 

“I suppose so. I’m glad you’re getting well fed.” She then turned her attention to Sonny. “Good work bebé.”

Rafael couldn’t have felt more proud. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes Sonny quotes The Simpsons you cant change my mind
> 
> leave a comment if you enjoyed !
> 
> twitter is @transcarisi

**Author's Note:**

> part 2 will be when Sonny cooks for Lucia so keep an eye out for when I post that :)
> 
> comments are sweet
> 
> my twitter is @snnycarisi


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